The historic and controversial Seaview Hotel is back on the market and will go on public auction next week.

Property consultants McLaggans Nationlink will auction the property at the firm's Seaview premises at 11am on Tuesday.

Duncan McLaggan said: "We have advertised in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. If anyone wants the property, just talk to me."

The hotel, which is owned by Dutch investor Bob de Ronde through a company called Jewel Of The Ocean Hotel (Pty) Ltd, has been on the market for more than two years.

During this time a few attempts to sell it were made, but because of different complications all fell through.

Between December, 2004, and April, 2005, de Ronde was involved in negotiations to sell the hotel to a Pretoria investor for R14 million, but nothing surfaced.

In mid-2005, De Ronde initiated talks with a Jan Faure, who took possession of the property and allegedly began disposing of some of its assets before paying for it.

Once again the deal fell through, following Faure's alleged failure to pay within the specified time.

De Ronde repossessed the hotel and pressed criminal charges against Faure. He also claimed R1 million in damages.

Faure was arrested in Johannesburg in September, 2005, and granted R8 000 bail. He is still on trial at the Port Elizabeth commercial crimes court.

In January last year, a Jean Nortje apparently tried to buy the property through a company called the Horizon Project Group.

It had ambitions to convert the property into hotel-type apartments and retirement homes. But the wheels came off this deal too.

Eastern Province Herald